Little Egypt on AllMovie

Little Egypt is a lighthearted "biopic" all about the hootchie-kootchie dancer who created a sensation at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. An incongruously redheaded Rhonda Fleming plays Izora, a cabaret dancer in old Cairo. American impresario Cyrus Graydon (Minor Watson) hopes to re-create an authentic Cairo street at the World's Fair, and to that end he ties up with fast-buck promoter Wayne Cravat (Mark Stevens) and a self-styled Pasha (Steven Geray). Graydon's plan is fulfilled, with one slight alteration; along for the ride is Izora, posing as an Egyptian princess. At Cravat's behest, Izora performs a belly dance at the World's Fair to draw in customers, resulting in a tempest of outrage stirred up by local blue-noses. Amusingly, while Little Egypt--aka Izora--is arrested for indecent exposure, by 1990s standards she is most modestly garbed; in fact, the audience never sees her famous bejeweled belly button. Perhaps realizing that no one could take this concoction seriously, the producers of Little Egypt wisely opted to play for laughs--and got them.